Is It Possible to Deceive the Elect?

Now, Contending for the Faith. In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.

Here’s this week’s question. “Dear Dave and Tom, What is your interpretation of the verse in Matthew 24 that says, ‘For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect’?

I’m particularly interested in knowing your perspective on the last part of that verse that says, ‘…If possible, they shall deceive the very elect.’”

Tom: Dave, Matthew 24, and this is verse 24—as we’ve been working together…it’s almost 25-26 years now. There have been a lot of ideas related to the false Christs and false prophets. I remember once we talked about a Jewish rabbi who had his own congregation stand up, claiming that they were the Messiah.

Dave: Yeah.

Tom: It’s kind of collective….

Dave: Everybody’s the Messiah. Sure.

Tom: Everybody’s the Messiah.

Dave: Mm-hmm.

Tom: So, we have all kinds of messiahs out there; all kinds of false Christs, and personally, I’m making a collection of them. I’m collecting the Christs from all of the biblical movies.

Dave: I know.

Tom: And Dave, absolutely…

Dave:  The false Christs.

Tom: Unbelievable!

Dave: They don’t even look like one another.

Tom:  Well, you have a Christ who turns to Judas and says, “I can’t handle money. You know, I just kind of lose money all the time. Here, you take the purse.” There’s a problem Christ.

You have another Christ who, again, says to Judas—or Judas says to Him, “Hey, I saw you cleaning out the temple. Boy, I was really impressed.” And this Jesus, this false Christ says, “Oh, you know, well, I really blew it then. I kind of lost control.”

Dave: Yeah.

Tom: Over and over and over again we’ve got these false Christs.

Dave: Tom, I just have to mention something here, because we talked about false Bibles that have changed the meaning. Now, it’s one thing when you get dynamic equivalency… that’s bad enough. You’ve removed yourself from the Bible. We don’t even know what the Bible is. But when they put the entire New Testament on video; when you get these movies of Luke, or whatever it is, now, you have removed another step farther. It’s not just a preacher; it’s not just Eugene Peterson’s idea of what God really wanted to say, but didn’t quite get it out, because the Holy Spirit somehow dropped the ball; and so he’s going to fix it up. But, now, we’ve got the interpretation of actors and actresses, the director, the lighting, the artists and we’re getting so far from the Bible. And yet, Tom, this is the only Bible that many people have out there.

So, there are false Christs, false prophets, but I think he’s speaking particularly now…what this person is after…are the false prophets, the Benny Hinns and so forth, who will say as Jesus mentions in Matthew 7, “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? In your name we cast out devils, in your name we did miracles?’ I will say, ‘I never knew you.’”

Now, what Jesus is saying is, that they’re going to be so good at this—I would say Benny Hinn is masterful. I mean, he attracts a million people in one meeting, in one night. In the Philippines he did, and also in Nigeria, perhaps other places. They certainly have deceived many people. And Jesus is saying, “They’re going to be so good at this, they could even deceive the elect, if that were possible.”

Well, then, I think the implication is, if you are one of the elect…that is, if you really know Christ…you’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and you’re walking in submission to Him, and in obedience to His Word, and you are meditating upon the Word of God, you know the Word of God, you cannot be deceived by these guys. You would know. Tom, it’s not only the elect, but I mean, I’ve talked to so many non-Christians who have a little common sense. And they say, “This guy is a fake. He’s a fraud.” Depending upon who they’re talking about.

Tom: But Dave, you just said, Benny Hinn draws out millions. You see him on TV. He has thousands upon thousands. Wouldn’t there be some of the elect, I mean, true believers among them? Is this an absolute statement here? Or is it a statement that says for a time? In other words, I’m thinking of the Scripture that says, “If any man wills to do God’s will, he will know of the doctrine, whether it is of God or not.”

Dave: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Tom: So, can’t true believers buy into a person because he’s charismatic, or because he’s impressive for a time? I don’t know.

Dave: I would say that they can. But, I think it means that ultimately, they can’t really be deceived. They may be deceived momentarily. On the other hand, I think it also is an indictment of those who are deceived by these people. If you’re really a believer, you know the Word of God. There’s no way you could be deceived. There’s something wrong. There’s a deficiency in your understanding of Scripture, or there is an over-eagerness on your part to see miracles and to participate in the miraculous—whatever it is.

It’s just like dear people, Tom, they get a letter from Oral Roberts and he says, “I’ve been up all night praying for you and God has given me all these blessings He’s going to give to you,” and so forth. Of course, several hundred thousand people get the same letter, same blessings; their name is put in it by computer. But anyway, they’re sincere…these people. And, if you send in a seed-faith offering, that will start the miracles flowing. And, on the one hand, they’re sincere, Tom, on the other hand, there’s a little bit of greediness there.

Tom:  Right.

Dave: And, Peter put it very well when he said that through covetousness, that is, on their part, and your part too, they will make merchandise of you. So it’s covetousness on the part of the so-called televangelist, whoever he is, he wants to get some money out of you. It’s covetousness on the part of the person who falls for this scam by sending in his seed faith offering, wanting to get something.

Tom: So, the antidote is to be in the Scriptures. Walk with the Lord. Be led of the Spirit. Not be open to every kind of trend, every kind of false prophet, every kind of false teaching that’s out there. But seek God through His Word.

Dave: And let’s stay away from sensationalism and let’s walk with the Lord. Walk humbly with our God.